Nineteenth March-an exciting day

 On this day 19th March in 1932, Stanley Matthews made his debut for Stoke City at Bury in a 2nd Division match. 6,900 saw him play. Stoke won 1-0. He played his last League matches 33 years later, following a career at Blackpool and back at Stoke for his "swan song" and of course for England. Matthews was my hero being brought up to enjoy football in the 1950s. I had a day with him at Charterhouse when he visited with a fellow teacher, who knew his family well. We arranged a match at the school on our "historic pitch", between the school's Old Carthusians FC and an XI made up from local well know amateur footballers. Stanley managed the Invited XI.

On This Day in 1995, Notts County were in the Anglo-Italian Cup and the dream was watching them play against super clubs such as Juventus or Inter-Milan. County of course have their own history. Founded in 1862, it is the oldest professional club in the World and predates The FA itself.

The 1994–95 Anglo-Italian Cup was the seventh Anglo-Italian Cup competition. The European competition was played between eight clubs from England and eight clubs from Italy. English side Notts County lifted the trophy after beating Italian side Ascoli 2–1.

Group A

Notts County
Swindon Town
Tranmere Rovers
Wolverhampton Wanderers

Ascoli
Atalanta
Lecce
Venezia

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Ascoli	4	3	1	0	6	2	+4	10
Atalanta	4	2	2	0	6	2	+4	8
Venezia	4	2	2	0	8	6	+2	8
Notts County	4	1	3	0	6	5	+1	6
Wolverhampton Wanderers	4	1	1	2	3	4	–1	4
Lecce	4	1	0	3	4	5	–1	3
Swindon Town	4	1	0	3	4	7	–3	3
Tranmere Rovers	4	0	1	3	2	8	–6	1

Group B

Derby County
Middlesbrough
Sheffield United
Stoke City

Ancona
Cesena
Piacenza
Udinese

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Stoke City	4	3	1	0	10	2	+8	10
Ancona	4	2	2	0	9	6	+3	8
Derby County	4	2	1	1	11	5	+6	7
Sheffield United	4	1	2	1	10	8	+2	5
Udinese	4	1	1	2	4	7	–3	4
Middlesbrough	4	0	3	1	2	4	–2	3
Piacenza	4	0	3	1	3	7	–4	3
Cesena	4	0	1	3	3	13	–10	1

The reality was a tad different - the four matches they played in the two seasons they took part in the competition, were all against English sides! Notts County were a little more fortunate. They did play Italian sides on the way to reaching the final of the competition in both 1993/94 and 1994/95 although they weren't the Serie A giants - they were Serie B clubs. In 1994/95 they visited Ascoli and Atalanta and hosted Lecce and Venezia in their qualifying group with fewer than 9,000 fans in total turning up for those four matches. 

Crowds picked up for the two legs of the English semi-final against Stoke City and then it was on to a Wembley final. A year after County had been beaten 1-0 by Brescia in front of 17,185 fans at Wembley they were back at the national stadium on Sunday March 19th 1995 when 11,704 fans witnessed them play Ascoli again and record a 2-1 victory. So Notts County had tasted European glory at Wembley - and they then went on to be relegated to the third tier of the Football League at the end of the season! 

Semi-finals

English semi-final

24 January 1995

Notts County	0 – 0	Stoke City

31 January 1995

Stoke City	0 – 0 (2 – 3 pens)	Notts County

Italian semi-final

14 December 1994

Ascoli	0 – 1	Ancona

30 December 1994

Ancona	1 – 2	Ascoli

Ascoli won on away goal rule.

Final

19 March 1995

Notts County	2–1	Ascoli
Tony Agana  13' Devon White  45'	Report	Mirabella  33'

Wembley Stadium

Notts County
GK	1	Steve Cherry		74'
DF	2	Chris Short
DF	3	Michael Johnson		74'
DF	4	Phil Turner
DF	5	Shaun Murphy
MF	6	Gary Mills
MF	7	Paul Devlin
FW	8	Tony Agana		87'
MF	9	Michael Simpson
FW	10	Devon White
MF	11	Andy Legg
Substitutes:
GK	12	Paul Reece		74'
DF	13	Michael Emenalo		74'
DF	14	Tommy Gallagher		87'
Manager:
Howard Kendall NOTE!!

COTTAGERS-EUROPA LEAGUE-HAMBURG-ATLETICO MADRID

 When you support a club like Fulham, it's easy to get an inferiority complex - it's not usually about winning anything, but survival. Then in the 2009/10 season Fulham found themselves in the Europa League, and they got there properly by finishing 7th in the Premier League, the previous season. The qualifying rounds were survived. The Group Stage was got through. Progress was made through the first knock-out round and then Juventus were drawn in the Round of the Last 16. Fulham v Juventus in Europe - it was a dream, surely.

But then reality took over and Fulham lost 3-1 in Turin. But there was that away goal!! Then in the return at Craven Cottage on Thursday March 18th 2010, those dreams were soon ended when David Trezeguet scored for the Italians after just two minutes. Match over - Juventus were 4-1 up on aggregate and Fulham had lost their away goal advantage. What was I missing on telly I wondered! Then seven minutes later Bobby Zamora made it 1-1 - hey, a draw against Juventus on the night wouldn't be a bad result. Then in the 26th minute the visitors' Fabio Cannavaro's was sent off for a professional foul on Zoltan Gera with the Hungarian putting Fulham 2-1 ahead shortly before half-time. Winning the lottery must be like this - one number uncovered at a time - but then who do you know who has ever got past three numbers? But then the next number came up when Gera scored from the penalty spot four minutes after the restart. 3-1 on the night, 4-4 on aggregate - surely Fulham wouldn't get beaten now until extra time! Then unreality really took over when Clint Dempsey scored the fourth in the 82nd minute. Another Italian was sent off in the three-week wait for the final whistle but the unbelievable had happened - Fulham had won 4-1 on the night and 5-4 on aggregate. Dreams can come true!

And the dream didn't end there. Fulham went on to reach the final in Hamburg where they ran out of steam in what was their 19th European tie of the season. A 2-1 defeat against Atletico Madrid but Fulham had reached a European final and that's something we still need a daily glance at the special souvenir Europa League Final fridge magnate to believe!!! I bet if you ever hear someone moaning about the Europa League being a second-rate competition it's not a Fulham supporter doing the talking!

BAYERN ERA BEGINS, LUCKY?? OR NOT?? UNITED!!

 Is Bayern Munich the "biggest" club in Germany? When the club became Bundesliga winners in 1969, it was only their second title, having last won the German Championship Final in 1932. But having assembled a team including Beckenbauer, Muller, Maier and Breitner, all was about to change!

In 1972 the club won its second Bundesliga, pipping Schalke on the final day of the season...well thrashing them actually 5-1. This was the first "leg" of an unprecedented title hat trick in Germany. In the following season, Bayern won the title with a record-breaking ELEVEN points, then beat rivals Borussia Monchengladbach to the 1973-4 title, but they made their mark in Europe, following Ajax's three European Cups with their own hat trick. 

Their "reign" owed this success to some luck, for in the First Round of the 1974 European Cup, Bayern were within 15 minutes of an exit, having thrown away a 3-1 first leg lead against under dogs, Swedish Atvidabergs (who?). Uli Hoeness scored to take the match to penalties where he helped his team to a 4-3 victory. Bayern then beat Dynamo Dresden 7-6 on aggregate, having been earlier 6-3 up in the tie!

In the Final versus Atletico Madrid, having gone behind to a goal from a young Luis Aragones, a last minute 30 yard "daisy-cutter" by defender George Schenzenbeck earned a replay which they won 4-0 gloriously. Bayern's luck continued in the 1975 Final, when they met a rampant Leeds United, who had two good penalty claims denied and also an goal turned down for "offside". Bayern scored twice late in the game to win the Cup. In the 1976 Final, St Etienne hit the post twice before conceding the only goal of a scrappy match. 

Bayern's luck in European Cup Finals eventually ran out, when in 1987 they were 13 minutes from victory before conceding two late goals against Porto who had scored one goal by an outrageous backheel fron Rabah Madjer. 

In 1999, having been one up against Manchester United and having hit a post and bar, with a minute to go....

https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/history/video/027d-171d9c400c75-2b5846ebab69-1000--1999-champions-league-final-highlights-man-united-2-1-bayern/

THE LADIES FOOTBALL CLUB

Well, this is written on March 16th....no live football as such today, for me? But to involve some proper football, my manager took me to the Sheffield Theatre-The Crucible to enjoy a Sheffield Theatres' Production, a "dramatic verse play", by Stefano Massini, adapted by Tim Firth, titled "The Ladies Football Club". An afternoon session and it is on for a Month...so if you happen to be anywhere near the Steel City...go!

It is musical, there is dance and it portrays the issues involving eleven women who had to struggle against many challenges and conflicts in trying to establish their own football team. E lizabeth Newman and Flo Gill, Directed the play and provided an inspirational work with a cast seventeen women, one a ten year old Sophie Tanner, one for four youngsters and thirteen "grown ups", one, Joy Adegon an actress who trained at Cambridge and Theatre Royal Stratford, Lesley Hart whose CV is as long as a football pitch and four youngsters aged between 10 and 12. There was special thanks to the Mole Valley (Dorking) Girls' Football Club for its "availability of experience", no doubt letting the "staff" see what really happens. Today for real, the Boodles' Independent Schools FA Cup Final (Under 18) is being played, as I type between Bradfield College (Reading) and Aldenham School at Sixfields Stadium-Northampton. More on this tomorrow.

BOMBS IN MANCHESTER and MILLWALL'S BRICKS!

 11th March 1941 ( a day or two late)!!

The industrial complex that was Trafford Park in the 1930s was a prime target for German bombers in the Second World War but on March 11th 1941 some of those bombs were a little off target hitting the Old Trafford home of Manchester United. The destruction was such that United were unable to play any more football at Old Trafford during the war years.

 In 1945 the War Damage Commission gave the club £4,800 to clear the debris and another £17,478 to rebuild the stands. Times have changed! Even then United didn't play a home match in the Football League there until 1949 having to share Manchester City's Maine Road home ground. Manchester United finally played that first home League match in their own rebuilt stadium against Bolton Wanderers on 24th August 1949 - the previous Football League match at Old Trafford was against Grimsby Town on August 26th 1939. Even then United didn't play their first home match under floodlights until March 25th 1957, a League match again against Bolton, meaning that the Maine Road ground had to be borrowed again for their home floodlit European Cup matches earlier in the 1956/57 season.

Trafford Park largely produced war material during the Second World War, such as the Avro Manchester and Avro Lancaster Bombers and Avro Royal-Royce Merlin engines used to power the Spitfire, Hurricane, Mosquito and the Lancaster. The engines were made by Ford under licence. The 17,316 workers employed in Ford's purpose-built factory produced 34,000 engines during the war. The facility was designed in two separate sections to minimise the impact of bomb damage on production. The wood-working factory of F. Hills & Sons built more than 800 Percival Procter aircraft for the RAF between 1940 and 1945, which were flight-tested at the Barton Aerodrome. Other companies produced gun bearings, steel tracks for Churchill Tanks, munitions, Bailey Bridges, and much else. ICI built and operated the first facility in the UK able to produce penicillin in quantity (ideal at war).

Trafford Park was frequently bombed by the Luftwaffe, particularly during the Manchester Blitz of December 1940. On the night of 23 December 1940, the Metropolitan-Vickers aircraft factory in Mosley Road was badly damaged, with the loss of the first 13 MV-built Avro Manchester bombers in their final assembly. The new Ford factory producing aircraft engines was bombed a few days after its opening in May 1941. Trafford Hall was severely damaged by bombing, and was demolished shortly after the war.

In the December 1940 air raids, stray bombs aimed for Trafford Park landed on the nearby Old Trafford football stadium, home of Manchester United, resulting in minor damage; matches were soon being played at the stadium again. On 11 March 1941, stray bombs fell onto Old Trafford again, causing serious damage to the stadium. It was comprehensively rebuilt after the war and re-opened in 1949, until which time Manchester United played their home games at Maine Road, home (of course) of Manchester City in Moss Side.

At the outbreak of war in 1939 there were an estimated 50,000 people employed at Trafford Park. By the end of the war in 1945 that number had risen to 75,000, probably the peak size of the park's workforce; Metropolitan-Vickers alone employed 26,000. In the 1960s employment in the park began to decline as companies closed their premises in favour of newer, more efficient plants elsewhere. Ellesmere Port and Runcorn at the western end of the Manchester Ship Canal overtook Trafford Park in economic importance.

On March 13th 1978, Bobby Robson with his Ipswich Town side visited The Den and their coach was greeted by an avalanche of bricks and stones and midway through the first half Millwall, a goal down, saw fightong in the corner of the ground. This spilled out on to the pitch with the match being suspended for 18 minutes as bottles and various armaments were wielded by the mob. Forty five people were injured and 30 arrested as Ipswich won 1-6. Bobby Robson, one of the most impressive managers in the game was not placated by that. "Turn the flame throwers on them" he said (after the game) in the "heat of the moment".

Supporter behaviour at the club's next tie in the Quarter-final of the Cup, away at Luton Town, was not good either. The riot became a defining image of 1980s hooliganism. A large contingent of away supporters turned up at Kenilworth Road with the "Cream of London's Firms" looking for a fight. Over 3,000 ticketless away fans turned up invading the pitch at the start and seeing thrie club lose 1-0, they ripped out seats and threw them at the retreating police. One officer was hit on the head by a concrete block abd only a colleague's "kiss" of life saved him. 81 people were injured, 31 of them police officers. Thirty one people were arrested and charged though a majority turned out to be supporters of other clubs. In the wake of this, The FA  ordered the Luton club to erect crash barriers in front of their stands, which the club refused, opting to ban away supporters however they were expelled from the 1986/7 League Cup tournament.

BLUEBIRDS AND PENSIONERS

 

10th March 1971
Cardiff City recorded one of their greatest victories when a Brian Clark headed goal saw the Bluebirds beat Real Madrid 1-0 before a near-50,000 crowd at Ninian Park in the ECWC quarter-final 1st leg. Sadly Cardiff lost the return leg 2-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu and Real went on to reach the final where they lost to Chelsea.

And talking of Chelsea!!.... in 1904, English businessman Gus Mears acquired the Stamford Bridge Athletics Stadium in Fulham with the aim of turning it into a football ground. An offer to lease it to nearby Fulham FC was turned down, so Mears opted to found his own club to use the stadium. As there was already a team named Fulham in the borough, the name of the adjacent borough of Chelsea was chosen for the new club; names like Kensington FC, Stamford Bridge FC and London FC were considered. Chelsea F.C. was founded on 10 March 1905 at The Rising Sun pub (now The Butcher's Hook), opposite the present-day main entrance to the ground on Fulham Road, and were elected to the Football League shortly afterwards. Chelsea won promotion to the First Division in their second season, and yo-yoed between the First and Second Divisions in its early years. The team reached the 1915 FA Cup Final, where they lost to Sheffield United at Old Trafford, and finished third in the First Division in 1920, the club's best "League" campaign to that point.

33 KILLED AT BURDEN PARK-WERE LESSONS LEARNED?

A bumper crowd gathered at Burnden Park on this day (March 9th) in 1946, with the chance of watching, home club,  Bolton Wanderers play Stoke City in the Sixth Round of the FA Cup. Wanderers were already 2-0 up, in a season when the FA Cup was in its Sixth Round, the only season when the Cup was played over two legs!! Stoke City, at this time, meant that the very famous Stanley Matthews was playing and over 50,000 spectators were expected, but at least 85,000 turned up! The "Bolton Evening News" noted that the game was "irresistible to football lovers of the North. There were all the signs of great Cup tie enthusiasm and a spirit of great humour. When the teams emerged from the "tunnel",surges in the overcrowded Embankment Stand caused thousands of spectators to lose their feet and fall onto the crush barriers which collapsed under the weight. Chaos as many were suffocated and others just crushed. Thirty-three spectators were crushed to death and over 500 injured. Despite this, the match was played after a short interval, fearing that a cancellation would cause further chaos.

The investigation revealed that a father trying to escape the crush with a little boy, broke open the gate and the desperate crowd poured in unaware of what was going on inside. Within minutes, the "glorious day" quickly became the biggest football tragedy. Some fans that had jumped barriers to get into the stadium were blamed but the government enquiry chaired by R. Moelwyn James KG, concluded that the "unauthorised entry was a factor but not the only one." 

It was believed that 2,000 people over the "safe" capacity had gained entry into the "Embankment Stand" and Hughes opined that "if a lower number of people had been allowed into the stand" then the disaster would not have happpened. It was noted that several stands and turnstiles were not open, creating bottle necks and numbers entering the stadium were not recorded. Hughes announced that numbers entering stadia, especially for big occasions, should be monitored mechanically. His recommendations, however, were not backed up by legislation, as clubs had "the option" to ignore them! The culture of complacency continued for four decades afterwards, a culture betrayed by events at the FA Cup Semi-Final in Hillsborough, Sheffield in 1989!!